OREANDA-NEWS Every year on July 28, World Hepatitis Day is celebrated in the UN International Day System with the participation of the World Health Organization.

The goal of this day is to raise public awareness about different forms of hepatitis.

Viral hepatitis — a group of infectious diseases known as hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E — affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide. More than 1.4 million cases of viral hepatitis A are registered in the world every year, about 4 million cases of viral hepatitis B, 3–4 million cases of viral hepatitis C.

Initially, World Hepatitis Day was celebrated on May 19th. However, in 2011, the date was changed to July 28, the birthday of Baruch Blumberg, who received the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the hepatitis virus in 1965 and who died in 2011.